Mother‘s Day

I should’ve been down in Sussex this weekend, to visit my mum for Mother’s Day, and although I was very reluctant to cancel, I know she was right to insist that I shouldn’t go ahead with the visit. Proof that ‘mother really does know best’!

Even so, it’s been very hard not to see her, and very hard to know that I’m not likely to for a while. And I know that many of you are going through similar enforced separations from your loved ones.

I’m grateful that we were able to have a FaceTime chat this afternoon, and that we’ve been speaking every day to help keep each other’s spirits up.

I’m also grateful that she moved to her new flat last year and that there is a manager on site who will keep in regular contact with residents; and that she wears one of those personal alarm pendants which will alert someone if she should have a fall. 

It’s also a relief to hear that local businesses in her village have banded together to draw up a list of essential items which local residents can order by ‘phone and which will be delivered to their doors at no extra cost; and that the lovely café just a couple of minutes away from her flat will be selling takeaway meals which they’ll also deliver to her door. 

Nonetheless, I know she’s going to miss opportunities to socialise regularly with local friends and neighbours and to get out for regular exercise.

I’ve sent her a link to some chair-based exercises for older people and some ideas for daily art assignments from the Quarantine Art Club that Carson Ellis is running on Instagram, and she’s got some books to read and some telly to watch. But, still, I wish I was there to give her a hug and tell her face-to-face that I love her and that I’m grateful for everything she’s done for me, through hard times and easier times.

Like all parents and children, we’ve had times when we didn’t see eye-to-eye, but I like to think that we’ve both grown older and wiser together, and that we’re good pals now, which I really appreciate. 

So, this Blip is for her. The photo was taken when she worked for the P&O shipping line, aboard the SS Iberia (late ‘50s, I think!). A decade or so before Goatee and I came along! 

Billy Bragg posted a new song, ‘Can’t Be There Today’, online yesterday www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-iS89MyCXA&feature=youtu.be and, I warn you, I cried when I heard it. I would normally advise you to have tissues to hand when you listen, but at the moment you’ll need to reserve any tissues you may have for more urgent purposes! 


Love to you all - mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children. Keep on keeping each other safe.